5 Newest (and Unusual) Ways to Boost Employee Productivity

Not all the jobs are exciting and offer something new every day. There are moments when work becomes dull and monotonous. In such situations, employees usually prefer to go with the flow, which can be translated in a decrease in their productivity rate.

If you are a business owner, you know that decreased productivity can bring serious problems to your company. So, you need to do something to keep your employees productive while they are at work.

This article is going to show you which are the top 5 newest techniques to boost your employees’ productivity.

1. Allow them to use social media

People are using social media nowadays for a variety of reasons. Your employees are people too which means that you cannot keep them from doing things that everyone else does.

They might use social media to take a mental break during their work schedule. Others might use social media for professional networking while others simply use it to kill the time. Either way, they prefer to use social media, forbidding this activity will be a morale killer which is exactly you don’t want to do.

If you become too strict around social media usage will make your employees think that you don’t trust them. Which is not true, right?

2. Say “yes” to telecommuting

When you think about telecommuting, most probably the first thing that comes into your mind is that your employees won’t be working as much as they would if they were in the office. It becomes very difficult for you to keep control over your employees and check if they are really productive when no one is watching them. However, the reality will turn your world upside down.

Apart from being a cost saver for your company, research has shown that remote workers are more productive, and they log in more hours than if they would do in the office. Allowing your employees to work from home will empower them, showing them that you trust them.

3. Cut out the excess

When your employees need to focus on a large project, it would be a good idea to stop giving them small tasks in between. These small tasks put more pressure on them and distract them from staying focused on the big project.

A good exercise, which can help you cut out the excess, is to analyze your team’s routine. Find ways to give your team more time to stay focused on higher-priority activities.

For instance, if your employees are used to sending a daily report to their managers, but their supervisors usually don’t read them, consider cutting this requirement out of their routine. Instead of asking them to write daily reports, you can ask them to create a monthly summary of their activities.

4. Give and accept feedback

How do you think your employees can improve their productivity if they don’t know when they are being inefficient? This is why performance reviews play an important role when you want to boost your employees’ productivity.

Organize periodical 1-to-1 meetings with them and discuss with them about the areas where they excel and where they should work more. Likewise, you need to also accept feedback coming from your employees. You need to find their opinion on your management strategies. Thus, you will have a clear and immediate way to help your employees improve.

5. Encourage them to be autonomous

Keeping an eye on your employees all the time makes them feel stressed and decreases their productivity. Micromanaging your employees will make them make more mistakes than before. Therefore, you will feel that you need to monitor them even though they are doing those mistakes because of the stress you are actually causing them.

On the other hand, if you show your employees that you trust them and wait for the final results, they will feel more confident and deliver better results.

Many of the strategies mentioned above might seem counterintuitive, but you will be surprised to discover that you have been so packed up with projects and strategies, that you oversaw them. You don’t need to spend a lot of money on “miraculous” strategies to improve your employees’ productivity.

Make a detailed analysis of your current situation and you will immediately discover what you can do to help your employees perform better at work.

Pauline speaks Portuguese, English, Spanish and Italian and currently she works as a translator at translation service TheWordPoint. She traveled the world to immerse herself in the new cultures and learn languages. Today she is proud to be a voting member of the American Translators Association and an active participant of the Leadership Council of its Portuguese Language Division.